Coast to Coast to Coast during April and May 2018 (content still being added)

To Apalachicola and Jack Edwards

Not the easiest airport to make RT calls to, but the flight to Apalachicola was straight forward. A shadow was seen to pass slightly to the right from behind. Looking up a UH-1 or similar US military helicopter flew overhead 1000ft above.

Since leaving Lakeland and later Cedar Key I had became obsessed about trying to get ahead of a storms development. If I didn’t then this would mean I could be grounded until April 23rd, still in the eastern portion of the country. There was no way I could make this, if I didn’t get ahead of the undeveloped storm that was being forecast. This led me to decide to cut the corner, not following the coast as I had planned.

Alligator Point

The BZIM was approaching an area with a large number of MOA (Military Operating Areas) associated with Tyndall AFB. Following along the coastline allowed transit below the 1000ft lower limit of Tyndall G MOA. Aircraft flying VFR can fly into a MOA, but if the area is active with military traffic, its probably not best.

Dog Island strip. An planned airfield, but missed to save time

A PC12 was in the pattern as the BZIM joined tight downwind for runway 14. The surface wind was gusty, but straight down the runway. A very quick turn around thanks to staff, the BZIM was airborne and heading for Jack Edwards, Alabama.